


Watch Me Now

by sleepinggiant



Series: We can be soulmates [2]
Category: SKAM (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Coming Out, Soulmate AU, Soulmate-Identifying Marks, Soulmates
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-29
Updated: 2017-05-29
Packaged: 2018-11-06 15:03:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,706
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11038620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sleepinggiant/pseuds/sleepinggiant
Summary: Isak is letting himself be happy with his soulmate, which is why he decides to open up to his friends about Even.





	Watch Me Now

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is, just 6(ish) months late - a sequel to A State of Mind, which I'd recommend reading first!
> 
> Note that this is set before season 4. I mean, obviously it's an AU, but when I wrote the first part I actually made sure that the timing made sense and fit with the timing in the actual show, and now this part is set just a bit after the first part, meaning this is technically set in the autumn/early winter of 2016. Because the first part matches up, timing-wise, with some of the earlier episodes of season 3 (even though the first part was posted on ao3 in January 2017). I realize I'm over-complicating it and this doesn't actually matter but dammit I worked hard to get the timing right in the first part so I want it all to make sense here too!
> 
> Kudos and comments mean the WORLD to me. Thank you so so so much to those who leave them, you genuinely make my day. <3
> 
> Title of this fic is from the Mando Diao song with the same name.
> 
> Enjoy, and let me know what you think!
> 
> p.s. come say hi on tumblr: ninjapirateunicorns.tumblr.com

Friday (now, during the sunset)

If you’d ever suggest that Isak is a hopeless romantic, he’d scoff and call you delusional.

To be fair, he’d never have expected that he’d be lying in the arms of a boy who made him feel like he could stop hiding, stop pretending, and just be himself. He’d never have thought he would find a boy who made him feel so brave.

He’d always assumed he’d never be allowed to be a hopeless romantic because he’d always thought the notion of a soulmate romance just wasn’t meant for him. Even had made him realize that happiness wasn’t some inconceivable fantasy; rather, it was a state of mind that Isak deserved to strive for.

So, yeah, Isak would deny being a hopeless romantic – but when it came to Even, there was no better way to describe him.

He was currently lying on his bed with half his body lying on top of Even, his head resting comfortably on Even’s chest, with Even’s arms securely around him.

Isak was trailing his fingers over his boyfriend’s naked skin, which was littered with ink from the scarce moments in the past few weeks where they hadn’t been together, and had been unable to resist leaving messages for each other. Isak still got butterflies in his stomach whenever new drawings or pieces of text appeared on his own skin, and seeing the perfectly identical scrawls and scribbles on Even’s skin would never cease to amaze him.

“Admiring your work?” Even’s voice was soft, as if he didn’t want to do anything to upset the quiet, peaceful atmosphere of the room. The collective was empty, and the warm orange light from the setting sun was pouring through the window of Isak’s bedroom.

“No,” Isak replied, just as softly. “I’m admiring yours.”

His hand had come to a stop on his favorite drawing among all the spots of ink, some of which were bright, while others were almost completely faded. This drawing was done in blue on their left forearms, and it was fairly faded, but still visible. It was a small drawing of Even and Isak, Isak turned to face Even, who had his arm around Isak’s shoulder. It was a simple drawing that Even had doodled a couple days ago while waiting for Isak’s class to end.

 

Wednesday (the day before yesterday)

Isak had been working with Sana on their biology project. He hadn’t told anyone that he had found his soulmate yet, but he had gradually grown more careless when it came to keeping his marks concealed, to the point where he didn’t mind at all when Even drew them in hard-to-cover places.

Sana had been explaining something about the structure of DNA when the drawing started appearing, causing Isak to lose focus and just watch it develop with a small smile on his face.

After a moment he heard Sana pointedly clear her throat, and he looked up to find her staring at him with an eyebrow raised expectantly.

“Sorry,” Isak mumbled sheepishly. “Could you, uh… could you repeat that?”

Sana looked annoyed for a second until she looked down at the drawing and her features softened slightly.

“Oh,” she said, and they both watched the ink bloom in silence. In the drawing, Isak’s hair was curling into existence. Even hadn’t yet been drawn save for his arm, which was already wrapped around Isak’s shoulders without being attached to a body, making for a currently strangely morbid-looking doodle.

“I found out who it is,” Isak blurted out after a moment, surprising himself. He considered Sana a good friend, but he hadn’t been expecting her to be the first person he’d talk to about having found Even.

Sana nodded for him to go on.

“I didn’t…” He trailed off, struggling to find the right words. In the drawing, his hands were now becoming more detailed, fingers showing up one by one. “It wasn’t who I was expecting.”

“Is that a bad thing?” Sana questioned.

“No! No, of course not,” Isak replied hurriedly. Drawn Isak looked complete, and now lines were extending from the arm lying across his shoulder to develop into a shoulder, then a neck. “I’m happy it is who it is.”

Sana nodded, patiently waiting for him to get to the point.

“I just…” Isak met her eyes. “I never let myself dream about it before, and now it feels too good to be true.”

He couldn’t read her expression, but he thought she looked like she understood. They turned back to the drawing, watching Even’s face slowly appear on his arm.

“Maybe it is,” she said while Even’s smile formed. “But let’s say it doesn’t last forever. Would you regret it? Feeling like you do now, where you think it’s so good that it’s making you question whether it could possibly even be true… would that not be worth it?”

Even’s face and hair were complete, and Isak could see real Even’s features clearly in his mind. The drawing captured Even perfectly, Isak thought, from his captivating eyes to his joyful smile.

“Yes,” Isak answered, without a shadow of a doubt. “It would be completely worth it.”

After that, the teacher had approached them and reprimanded them for not doing any work. When class finished Isak and Sana left the room together to see Even waiting in the hallway, and Sana turned to smile brightly at Isak.

He may have had some lingering fears, but talking to Sana had made him feel optimistic about the future.

 

Friday (now, during the sunset)

Back in Isak’s room, Even chuckled, the movement causing Isak’s head to bounce slightly.

“You’re too kind,” Even said fondly, pressing a kiss to the top of Isak’s head.

Isak smiled, moving his hand along Even’s arm towards his hand, when Even winced slightly.

“Oh, shit, sorry,” Isak apologized, moving his fingers away from the burn on Even’s wrist. The burn was from yesterday, when Isak had spilled coffee on himself while out with Jonas and Eva.

 

Thursday (yesterday)

Isak had decided to tell Jonas about Even after the talk he’d had with Sana the day before. He’d asked Jonas after school if he was hungry, and he could tell that Jonas immediately understood Isak was ready to talk.

“Isak! Jonas! Wait up!” A voice had called out from behind them once they had started walking.

They turned to see Eva speeding towards them,

“What are you guys up to?”

Isak could see Jonas hesitating, looking over at Isak as if trying to figure out whether he needed to talk to Jonas alone. Isak looked at his two friends. He couldn’t remember the last time they had hung out alone, just the three of them. Somewhere along the way, Eva had started spending more time with her friends, and Jonas and Isak with Magnus and Mahdi, and eventually the trio had drifted.

Isak decided that he would like for Eva, who was looking at him questioningly, her head tilted slightly to one side, to know everything he was about to tell Jonas.

“We’re gonna grab a coffee, and maybe some kebab. Wanna join us?” Isak answered her, and when both Jonas and Eva smiled at him, it felt like they were back to how they used to be.

Later, on the park bench, Jonas was telling a random story about some guy he knew. Eva’s eyes were twinkling as she laughed at all the right parts. Isak realized with a pang how much he’d missed her - how much he’d missed this, the easy and natural dynamic between the three - and when Jonas finished telling his story and Eva’s laughter turned into a smile, Isak spoke to break the silence.

“I found my soulmate.”

Jonas let out a happy, surprised laugh, grinning over at Isak, while Eva almost choked on her food.

“You what? You have a soulmate? You got soulmate marks? What?” Eva spluttered, turning towards Isak with an incredulous look on her face.

“Yeah,” Isak replied with a sheepish smile, “a couple weeks ago.”

“Oh my god, Isak! That’s great!” Eva slapped his arm lightly as if she couldn’t contain her excitement, before her hands came to rest on his arm, and her grin was almost contagious.

“Who is it, man?” Jonas chimed in, sitting literally on the edge of his seat as he looked over Eva’s shoulder, focusing all his attention on Isak.

“It’s… it’s someone from kosegruppa, actually.”

Eva let out a delighted “what,” while Jonas looked at him with a smile still on his face, waiting for Isak to continue.

Isak could feel himself stalling. He looked down at his hands where they were fidgeting in his lap, then said the next few words quickly.

“It’s not a girl.”

He was surprised to hear his own voice sounding so much calmer than he felt as he got the words out. His heart was pounding as he waited for Jonas and Eva to react in some way, but a reaction never came. Neither of them so much as blinked in surprise.

“Well, what’s his name?” Jonas inquired further, while Eva’s mitten-clad hands shot up from where they had been grasping Isak’s arm, palms facing upwards in silent question. Isak felt a burst of affection for them both.

“Even.”

Isak remembered feeling impossibly giddy while talking about Even with Jonas and Eva, and it was while he was laughing at something Eva said (“Wait a minute, I remember Even! Good for you, Isak, he is _fi-i-ine_ ,” to which Jonas had nodded in agreement) that he clumsily dropped the coffee he was mostly using as a hand warmer and burned the top of his wrist where the sleeve of his jacket didn’t quite reach.

 

Friday (now, during dusk)

“That’s okay,” Even beamed down at him. “The context in which you spilled that coffee makes it so worth it.”

Isak rolled his eyes at him, the full effect of which may have been slightly downplayed by the smile that wouldn’t stay off his face.

The bright orange from the sunset had gradually darkened as they lay there, and now it was hard to make out all of the marks on Even’s skin. Isak shuffled closer so he could nose at Even’s neck. Even’s arms tightened around Isak’s back.

“I’m glad you met my friends today,” Isak told him sincerely, his voice slightly muffled from where his mouth was pressed to Even’s skin.

“Me, too,” Even agreed. “Thanks for introducing us.”

Isak knew that, even though Even had been wonderfully supportive and understanding of Isak taking his time with getting used to the idea of opening up and trusting Even enough to be in a serious relationship, Even had had moments of insecurity about Isak being so hesitant. Isak had reassured him again and again that he wanted this, wanted Even, and Even believed him. Nevertheless, Isak could tell how happy it made Even to meet Isak’s friends, and to feel like Isak trusted him enough to introduce them.

 

Friday (earlier today, in the late morning)

Isak had been standing in a huddle outside the school with Jonas, Mahdi, and Magnus, the crisp autumn air nipping at their skin.

“Right, what’s happening this weekend?” Magnus asked, stuffing his hands in the pockets of his jacket as he looked around at the other three boys.

“I haven’t heard of any parties going on this weekend, sorry man,” Jonas replied.

“What! It’s the _weekend_ — there must be something.” Magnus groaned, looking to Mahdi and Isak with hope in his eyes.

Isak was listening, though he was a bit distracted, focusing more on trying to come up with the best way to break the news of Even to the other two boys.

“Isak, maybe you should throw a party. You must secretly know all of Oslo if you’ve managed to meet so many people recently that you can’t even figure out who your soulmate is,” Mahdi quipped to a booming bout of laughter from Magnus.

Jonas threw Isak a meaningful look, nodding his head slightly towards Magnus and Mahdi, who were looking at Isak, waiting for a response.

Isak cleared his throat. It felt ridiculous to him that this part always made him hesitate. Logically, he knew that his friends wouldn’t react negatively. He was genuinely excited for them to know everything. Ever since he and Even had first gotten together, he had felt like he’d been overflowing with joy that he simply _had_ to share with people, or he’d spontaneously combust.

The truth was he was happy, and felt more comfortable in his own skin than he had in a long time. He knew that had a lot to do with finding Even and starting the process of accepting himself and allowing himself to get invested despite his initial reservations.

He suddenly pictured Even hanging out with Mahdi and Magnus, and immediately found that the prospect of sharing that happiness with his friends overshadowed any lingering nervousness almost entirely.

“Actually, I have figured it out,” Isak said simply, and couldn’t help but laugh at the expressions on the boys’ faces as they were entirely silent for a brief moment, before they both began loudly asking questions at the same time.

Isak was just about to ask them to slow down so he could understand what they were saying when something — or rather, some _one_ — caught his eye. _Speak of the devil_ , Isak thought, as he watched Even approach the group. The taller boy looked hesitant, as though he wasn’t sure whether Isak would want to introduce him to his friends just yet, so Isak shot him a reassuring smile to let him know everything was okay.

“Hi,” Even said as he came to a stop across from Isak, standing with Mahdi and Magnus to his left and Jonas to his right.

The boys looked slightly confused and very distracted as they echoed the greeting, and Isak watched as his two worlds collided. This wasn’t how he had planned to tell the boys the news, but he supposed this saved him the trouble of having to spell everything out to them.

“Boys, this is Even,” Isak said. After a slightly awkward pause, he cleared his throat, and added, “My soulmate.”

Magnus let out a gasp worthy of a low budget soap opera as his head snapped back to face Even. Mahdi looked only moderately surprised. Jonas just looked happy.

“Soulmate! _You’re_ Isak’s soulmate?! Isak— the fuck, are you gay?” Magnus was looking back and forth between Isak and Even as if he was watching a ping-pong match. “You hook up with girls every weekend!”

Isak was saved from having to say anything in reply when Mahdi chimed in.

“Yeah, but he could be pansexual.”

“What’s pansexual?” Magnus asked, tone as confused as ever.

“It’s when you like both.”

Even looked vaguely amused at the exchange. Watching him casually standing there, with Isak and his friends at school, was new, but it fit perfectly. It felt right.

“That’s bisexual, isn’t it?” Magnus continued.

“Yeah, I think that’s bisexual,” Jonas supplied.

“The fuck is the difference between pansexual and bisexual then?” Magnus asked with a laugh. “There’s no difference.”

“ _Anyway_ ,” Jonas said pointedly, cutting Magnus off, “it’s nice to finally meet you, Even.”

After all three of the boys had shaken Even’s hand (or, in Magnus' case, given him a hug) and introduced themselves they fell into easy chitchat, and Isak found he couldn’t keep a smile from tugging at his lips for the rest of the day.

 

Friday (now: the night)

His bedroom was dark save for the stream of moonlight coming in through the window, and he knew he’d sleep well tonight with Even next to him.

“Of course I introduced you,” Isak responded to Even, his eyelids growing heavy and his voice barely above a whisper. “You’re important to me.”

Isak felt Even’s answering smile where it pressed into his temple.

They were young, they hadn’t been together for long, and they couldn’t say for sure what would happen. The marks on their skin, however, had brought them together, and Isak's final thought before he drifted off to sleep was that he was going to do his best to keep them that way.


End file.
